Brockville mayoral candidates Mark Oliver, left, Cec Drake and Jason Baker take part in an all-candidates meeting at the Brockville Arts Centre on Thursday. The fourth candidate, Kelly Cole, was unable to attend due to illness. Ronald Zajac/Brockville Recorder and Times/Postmedia NetworkRonald Zajac / Ronald Zajac/The Recorder and Times

Three of Brockville’s four potential mayors took to the Brockville Arts Centre stage Thursday night and framed the election as a battle between energy, pragmatism and experience.

The major portion of an all-candidates meeting, organized by the Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce, was given over to the mayoral candidates. Voters on Oct. 22 will choose between Jason Baker, Kelly Cole, Cec Drake and Mark Oliver. Cole was unable to attend the event due to illness.

The three remaining candidates, while each professing to have all three of the aforementioned qualities, chose to stress different ones in a decidedly collegial encounter.

Oliver, while speaking of his business experience and success, emphasized energy and enthusiasm in his delivery.

“Brockville needs some change. Brockville needs some wins and Brockville needs a guy who’s going to fight for those wins,” said Oliver.

“Put me in, coach!”

Drake, who touted decades of experience of leadership in the corporate sector, came across as steady and pragmatic, stressing sound fiscal management and arguing city hall has failed to follow proper policies and procedures.

“It’s time for real progress, real change and real leadership,” said Drake.

Baker, a councillor who has served 21 years in that role, stressed his own management credentials as the co-owner of Ketchum Manufacturing but placed the greater emphasis on his council experience.

“There isn’t time to wait for the next mayor to learn on the job,” said Baker, adding his decades on council include a history of tough questions.

“It’s a record I’m running on, not running from.”

A chamber panel asked the candidates a dozen questions focused mainly on the economy and fiscal management.

There were few revelations from the evening, although at one point Baker, a council champion of what has become known as the twin-pad arena project now slated for the former Phillips Cables site, acknowledged that the project, once it advances, need not necessarily consist of two ice pads.

“It can be whatever council decides,” said Baker.

He called the project a rare opportunity to influence recreation for future generations.

The councillor and mayoral hopeful was not shy about airing some of the grievances accumulated over his time on council. On the matter of downtown revitalization, Baker was the only candidate to take aim at the downtown businesses themselves, noting city hall has for decades been pushing for standardized business hours.

“It’s never happened,” said Baker. “They’re not willing to have the conversation.”

Drake, meanwhile, returned frequently to the theme of maintaining what the city already has, be it infrastructure or even smaller items in the downtown core.

While Brockville should be taking advantage of its downtown, said Drake, it is often aesthetically displeasing in the little details such as weeds, or lamp posts in need of new paint.

“I just feel that we’ve neglected it,” he said.

Oliver said a new “Pop-Up Shop” concept on King Street, in which small businesses take advantage of reduced rents for brief periods in a pilot project, is a promising avenue for the downtown.

He added his aim for business in general is to reduce red tape.

On the matter of getting the city on a firmer financial footing, Drake returned to a key criticism of current city policy: The debt-to-reserves ratio.

Before considering “nice projects” for the city, council must take steps to reduce the city’s debt and increase the amount of money in reserves, said Drake.

Oliver acknowledged Brockville residents are worried about the city’s financial state. He returned frequently to his ability to grow his own business, PhotoVisions, by travelling the province and selling its merits, and promised similarly to champion Brockville to potential new employers.

“We cannot cut our way to prosperity,” said Oliver.

Baker vowed to instil in the next council a sense of fiscal responsibility.

That includes not entertaining any more outside requests for funding, but also looking to the operating budget for potential savings, even if nearly half that budget is comprised of salaries.

“These are tough decisions and you need to elect a council willing to make them,” said Baker.

Candidates for Brockville city council await their turn at the microphone at an all-candidates meeting at the Brockville Arts Centre on Thursday Ronald Zajac/Brockville Recorder and Times/Postmedia NetworkRonald Zajac /
Ronald Zajac/The Recorder and Times